5 Frugal Things

A No Spend Challenge update! This summer we’re saving for a down payment on a home, so I’ve been documenting black-belt frugal tactics.

The back-to-school deals are aplenty this week. I headed to OfficeMax to take advantage (because an important principle of frugality is planning ahead) of penny deals. My younger girls go through crayons like water, so I stock up when those are cheap. I got 3 12-packs of pencils for .01 each, 3 boxes of crayons for .25 each, $1 kid scissors and splurged on a 5-pack of pens for $3. Because I can NEVER find a pen around here.

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My “make it do” fix of stain-remover-for-laundry-detergent ran out, so I bought 6 jugs of laundry detergent. They were BOGO, and I had $7 in coupons, so I paid $12 out of pocket. Then I redeemed a $4 cash back reward from SavingStar. (See, sometimes these cash back apps are worth it.) This means I got 6 jugs of laundry detergent for $8.

Since .10 or less per load is considered a “stock up” price for laundry detergent and I got 189 loads for $8, or .04 a load, this was a great deal.

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Every summer we take advantage of the Barnes and Noble Summer Reading Program. You download the form, fill it out when your child reads books, and take it to B&N to redeem for a free book. We got 3 free books this time.

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I started a small investment account with Stash. It’s an app that allows you to start investing with only $5. And if you use this link, they give you that $5 for signing up. Nowadays, there is NO excuse for not investing folks!

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I joined Kindle Unlimited a couple of weeks ago and downloaded (FREE) several ebooks I have been wanting to read. Amazon is still offering this promotion: Kindle Unlimited 30-Day Free Trial

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I also joined Audible and got a free $10 Amazon gift certificate for doing so. I then set a reminder in my Google calendar to cancel before the 3 month trial period is up. I don’t love audio books because my house is rarely quiet enough to hear audio very well, but I plan on downloading a couple of kid’s books for the little ones to listen to during quiet time or before bed. Click here to take advantage of this offer. 

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Baby needed a new pair of shoes. I headed to the consignment shop and got two pairs for $9 (one pair of PediPeds, these are $30+ new), as well as a Sheriff Woody doll that the little girls had been asking for for months, for $5. I used my frequent shopper punch card and got 20% off the lot.

Oops. That was more than 5 frugal things. 🙂

(This is a post in a series on my No Spend Challenge. Read more here.)